| BA main | BA minor (60) | BA minor (30) | Pedagogy | Exchange | |
| Participation | X | X | X | X | X |
| Presentation | X | X | X (or Exercise) | X (or Exercise) | X |
| Essay | X | X | X | ||
| Exercise | X (or Presentation) | X (or Presentation) | |||
| Klausur | X |
Class 1: The Far Right in Europe and Beyond
Introduction to Course
Course Introduction
- What is ‘far right’?
- Course structure
- Learning aims
- What the course is not…
First task…
Read the syllabus!
- We have a shiny new (developing) website for the course
- Before our next meeting, your task is to peruse the website
- especially the Syllabus, Schedule, and Report example pages.
Defining ‘far right’
- Broadly: a noun or adjective referring to phenomena that reject (at least elements of) liberalism and/or democracy, and is characterised by nationalism, exclusionism, xenophobia, strong state, welfare chauvinism, traditional ethics, authoritarianism, and/or populism
Radical right (populist and non-populist cases): opposition to fundamental values of liberal democracy (radical) and belief in a natural order with inequalities (right)
Extreme right: rejection of democracy (Ignazi’s ‘antisystem’—but that depends on the system)
- far right encompasses both these terms
Publications on radical right (from Arzheimer)
From Arzheimer’s bibliography: https://www.kai-arzheimer.com/tag/bibliography/
Idea of the research field (Arzheimer, 2022)
Wordfish from Arzheimer’s bibliography: Y-axis - how likely the appearance of a word is in research on far right; x-axis - strength of association of a word with underlying dimension
Structure of the course
- PART I - What is ‘far right’?
- Concepts
- Far-right ideology: from transnational traits to local idiosyncrasies
- PART II - Far-right parties
- Radical and extreme
- Representatives
- Voters
- Responses and counter-strategies
- PART III - Far-right movements
- Movement-parties
- Mobilisation and movements
- Counter-mobilisation
- Demobilisation
- PART IV - Individuals in far right
- Radicalisation
- Violence
- Online
- PART V - Studying the far right
- Methods, ethics, and safety
Holidays
Several holidays overlap with our class meetings:
- 1 May (Class 2)
- 29 May (Class 6)
- 19 June (Class 9)
FOR NOW, no make-up classes are planned…
- requires attentive reading and preparation so we can cover the material in the surrounding classes
- possibly adding short recorded lectures…
Aims
- knowledge about past and contemporary far-right political and social activity
- familiarity with breadth of research literature covering the far right
- Capacity to…
- assess developments in far-right socio-politics, especially by identifying underlying factors and comparing across contexts
- critically evaluate research on the far right, especially by evaluating the data and methods used
- gather, assess, and present data about far-right socio-politics
What the course is not…
- not for activism against the far right
- it’s a seminar, like many others, with real-world implications
- not for airing grievances about far right and caricaturing far-right supporters
- good research on the far right takes seriously its ideology, organisations, and supporters—and tries to divorce analysis from normative commitments
- not for dogmatic positions about far-right activity
- we will respectfully debate—and likely disagree at several points—about what qualifies as far right, how it should be researched and understood, and what to do with the fruits of research
Connection to Vorlesung
This seminar is connected to Prof. Dr. Berthold Rittberger’s lecture (Vorlesungsübung: The Political System of the European Union)
- is everyone enrolled in that?
- we will tie in Prof. Rittberger’s content through class discussions
Course assessments
- Participation
- Presentation
- Essay (Data report)
Course assessment
Participation
- do the readings and discuss in class
- make note of any questions or comments you have as you go through the readings
- most of the readings are research journal articles
- more in-depth than book chapters—requires greater concentration
- consider complementing with a general reader (examples listed at of Syllabus)
Presentation (Referat)
- short (max. 20 mins.) group presentation on a method
- groups, topics, and preferred date due to me by Week 4 (15 May)
- but there are advantages to booking early…
Essay (Hausarbeit): Data report
- data report on a far-right phenomenon (e.g., voters, a party, protests, violence)
- gather and present data, generate analytical insights
- 2500-3500 words (excluding citations)
- 28 June: short synopsis due. 16 August: full, final report due.
- consider working with data visualisation and analysis software!
Course assessment summary
| BA main | BA minor (60) | BA minor (30) | Pedagogy | Exchange | |
| Participation | X | X | X | X | X |
| Presentation | X | X | X (or Exercise) | X (or Exercise) | X |
| Essay | X | X | X | ||
| Exercise | X (or Presentation) | X (or Presentation) | |||
| Klausur | X |
- do the readings and discuss in class
- make note of any questions or comments you have as you go through the readings
- most of the readings are research journal articles
- more in-depth than book chapters—requires greater concentration
- consider complementing with a general reader (examples listed at of Syllabus)
- short (max. 20 mins.) group presentation on a method
- groups, topics, and preferred date due to me by Week 4 (15 May)
- but there are advantages to booking early…
- data report on a far-right phenomenon (e.g., voters, a party, protests, violence)
- gather and present data, generate analytical insights
- 2500-3500 words (excluding citations)
- 28 June: short synopsis due. 16 August: full, final report due.
- consider working with data visualisation and analysis software!
For the essay and writing in general…
Patriotta, G. (2017). Crafting papers for publication: Novelty and convention in academic writing. Journal of Management Studies, 54(5), 747-759.
Course practicalities
- Typical class meeting
- Office hours and communication
- e-learning site
- resources
- about me
- Q & A
- student introductions
Typical class meeting
- Opening question(s)/discussion point(s)
- e.g., theoretical dilemma, typology forming, item from the news
- Summarising lecture on theory/findings related to week’s topic
- discussion points
- Discussing the reading(s)
- highlighting important points (esp. theory and research design)
- students who read will find discussion more illuminating
- highlighting important points (esp. theory and research design)
- Presentation of further research relevant to week’s topic
- Summative discussion: takeaways, new ideas, lingering questions
Throughout, we will use cases to link theory to real-world events
Office hours and communication
- best to send an email
- 11.00 - 12.00 on Wednesdays at GSI (Oettingenstr. 67) - Room H105
- or by appointment
Moodle
- Self-enrol: The Far Right in Europe and Beyond
- access key: “FRpol”
- All course readings are available
Resources
Kai Arzheimer’s website: https://www.kai-arzheimer.com/ and Twitter: @ kai_arzheimer
- Extreme Right Bibliography: https://www.kai-arzheimer.com/extreme-right-western-europe-bibliography/
Cas Mudde’s podcast, Radikaal: https://www.radikaalpodcast.com/ and his Twitter: @ CasMudde
C-REX: https://www.sv.uio.no/c-rex/english/
- Knowing what’s (far) right: A compendium: https://www.sv.uio.no/c-rex/english/groups/compendium/c-rex-compendium-print-version.pdf
Resources
ECPR Extremism & Democracy website: https://standinggroups.ecpr.eu/extremismanddemocracy/
- e-Extreme newsletter: https://standinggroups.ecpr.eu/extremismanddemocracy/newsletter/
- Routledge book series: Extremism and Democracy and Fascism and the Far Right
Anti-Defamation League: https://www.adl.org/
and much, much more
About me
- tell me if you have problems understanding me
- there’s an accent at work that I tragically cannot shake off
- Ph.D. in political science from Central European University (CEU)
- specialisation in qualitative methods (incl. QCA, [Bayesian] process tracing), but also quant. text analysis, network analysis
- researcher in funded projects on …
- violent/banned far-right groups and online content moderation
- radicalisation, violent extremism, polarisation, and resilience
- current work: militant democracy; far-right activist networks; political violence (in 1970s Northern Ireland; in contemporary Italy); paths to female leadership in Asia; protest and polarisation
About the course
- Q & A
About you! Student introductions
- Information about you, possibly including…
- Expectations for this course
- favourite joke
- Study programme
- favourite song
- Country (place) of origin
- top source for news
- Background in education/research
- secret skill
- Academic/professional aspirations
Onto our topic: concept formation and conceptualising the far right
- fundamentals of social science concepts
- Mudde’s approach for the far right
Concept formation
- concepts are the building blocks of social science research
- a term denoting an abstract idea
Concept formation
- identifying bounds of concepts
- See Sartori (1970)
- broadly, three types of concepts in social science
- classical: all criteria are shared by all cases
- radial: some criteria are shared by all cases; others are not
- family resemblance: No criterion is shared by all cases
Visualising classical/radial concepts
Classical concept (all criteria)
Radial concept (all share ‘female’)
and family resemblance: no characteristics shared by all (e.g., games)
Classical vs. radial (Collier and Mahon 1993)
Options (according to Mudde)
- family resemblance
- Weber’s ideal type
- Primus inter pares (‘first among equals’): one example that sets the model for all others
- lowest common denominator: group on the basis of the (few) features that all individual members have in common. This would lead to a so-called “minimum definition” (cf. Eatwell 1996)
- greatest common denominator: a “maximum definition,” maximise possible number of similarities within (part of) the family
Ideological components
- nationalism
- exclusionism
- xenophobia
- strong state
- welfare chauvinism
- traditional ethics
↓
- nativism
- authoritarianism
- populism
Radical and extreme
Again…
Radical right (populist and non-populist cases): opposition to fundamental values of liberal democracy (radical) and belief in a natural order with inequalities (right)
Extreme right: rejection of democracy (Ignazi’s ‘antisystem’—but that depends on the system)
far right encompasses both these terms
Radical and extreme
From: Arzheimer, Kai. “Conceptual Confusion is not Always a Bad Thing: The Curious Case of European Radical Right Studies.” Demokratie und Entscheidung. Eds. Marker, Karl, Michael Roseneck, Annette Schmitt, and Jürgen Sirsch. Wiesbaden: Springer, 2018. 23-40.
Examples?
What cases are you familiar with?
How should we categorise them and why?
Examples - talking through (party) cases
| Radical | Extreme |
|---|---|
| AfD | Der Flügel? |
| FPÖ | NPD |
| UKIP? | British National Party |
| RN/Front National | Britain First |
| PiS/United Right | Casa Pound |
| Fidesz | Mi Hazánk Mozgalom |
| FdI, Lega, Forza Italia? | Golden Dawn |
| Partij voor de Vrijheid |
even trickier with movements?
Points to be aware of?
- concept formation
- measurement
- methods
- descriptive vs. causal inference
- generalisation
References
Collier, David, and James E. Mahon. 1993. “Conceptual ‘Stretching’ Revisited: Adapting Categories in Comparative Analysis.” American Political Science Review 87 (4): 845–55. https://doi.org/10.2307/2938818.
Sartori, Giovanni. 1970. “Concept Misformation in Comparative Politics.” The American Political Science Review 64 (4): 1033–53.
